


First Date

by SerendipitousDreams



Series: Coffee Shop AU [3]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/M, WOW THIS TOOK SO LONG, implied past zahra/vex'ahlia, my poor aro ass is terrible at date stuff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-08
Updated: 2016-06-08
Packaged: 2018-07-13 22:37:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7140443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerendipitousDreams/pseuds/SerendipitousDreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vex’ahlia had been on relatively few dates in her life. There was the one time she went out to the movies with a guy as a teenager. But she wasn’t sure if that counted because she only did it so Vax could ransack his car while he was distracted. Then, of course, there was the time she went camping with Zahra. Although, she wasn’t sure if that counted either because Kashaw and Keyleth ended up tagging along, and once Vax heard about that, he insisted he came too. It ended up snowballing into a camping trip with their entire friend group rather than anything remotely intimate.</p>
<p>If she was being honest with herself, Vex’ahlia had never been on a date in her life.<br/>----<br/>AKA Percy and Vex go on a date and it's super cute and stuff</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Date

**Author's Note:**

> This took me so long to write. It was like pulling teeth.  
> Partly because the semester ended and I had to work commencement and move, and then I had to visit my grandma in Hawaii to help fix her house, and then the Q&A made me rethink a lot of Percy and Vex's characters in my head.  
> Also I am the least romantic person in the world and I have no idea how dates work. 
> 
> ANYWAY, thank you to everyone for your wonderful responses on the last to works in this series, it has definitely gotten out of hand and it's all your fault.
> 
> But seriously, thanks for your comments/kudos/views.

Vex’ahlia had been on relatively few dates in her life. There was the one time she went out to the movies with a guy as a teenager. But she wasn’t sure if that counted because she only did it so Vax could ransack his car while he was distracted. Then, of course, there was the time she went camping with Zahra. Although, she wasn’t sure if that counted either because Kashaw and Keyleth ended up tagging along, and once Vax heard about _that_ , he insisted he came too. It ended up snowballing into a camping trip with their entire friend group rather than anything remotely intimate.

If she was being honest with herself, Vex’ahlia had never been on a date in her life.

So, it’s perfectly rational for her to be worrying about this date with Percy a bit. Not that she’s panicking. She doesn’t panic. She’s cool as a cucumber right now. The fact that she has every article of clothing she own strewn about her room because she’s suddenly forgotten what the fuck “casual” is supposed to mean does not have any bearing on her mental state at the moment. She was totally fine.

If she was being honest with herself, Vex’ahlia was panicking about this date.

She and Percy talked a bit about this dinner date at the coffee shop on Thursday. She specifically said that she wasn’t interested in going anywhere fancy. In fact, she made it very clear that she would prefer something casual. Fancy stuff reminded her of having to play the pretty and proper daughter for her father (a role she never filled, no matter how hard he tried). She hadn’t mentioned that.

So casual. A casual dinner date with the cute barista she’d been flirting with for the past several months. Nothing too difficult to prepare for. In theory, anyway.

She wriggled back into the black skinny jeans and crop top combo that managed to show off her well-defined abs and ass (two of her best features if she really had to choose), and stepped out into the living room where Vax was staring blankly at the television.

“How’s this?” She demanded, making Vax look up at her.

He stared at her for a moment before replying. “You look like a stripper.”

Vex flipped him off and decided that it was good enough. She put on her leather jacket over the outfit and patted Trinket on the head before leaving the apartment. She was going to arrive at the restaurant ridiculously early by her standards, but Percy seemed like the kind of person that valued punctuality, and she was intent on making a good impression.

The restaurant was far enough away that she had to catch a bus to get there rather than just walking. Percy probably had a car. Probably not a luxury car since he was a barista, but Vex imagined something nice. She could recognize the posh accent of someone raised in comfort. It was yet another thing that made her nervous about this date.

As she arrived at the casual Italian restaurant, Vex realized she had no idea how to contact Percy. They’d set all their plans in the cafe, and she forgot to ask for his number. A quick glance down at her phone showed that she had arrived only a few minutes before their agreed time. Maybe he was already here. She quickly glanced around the restaurant. The only head of white hair she could see belonged to an overweight man eating with his family. The hostess was looking at her, about to say something.

“I’m here to meet someone.” Vex quickly informed the hostess before she could say anything.

As if on cue, Percy walked in through the door. He grinned politely when he caught sight of Vex. She glanced down at her phone to check the time again. Just as she suspected, he was punctual nearly down to the second, the bastard. Despite the fact that they had specifically chosen a casual place, he was distinctly overdressed. He was even wearing a tie.

“I hope you weren’t waiting long.” Percy said, as if he hadn’t come precisely on time.

“I only got here a few minutes before you.” Vex replied. “I wasn’t sure if you made a reservation or not. It doesn’t seem that busy, so it’s okay if you didn’t.”

“Of course I did.” Percy blinked at her as if she had said something strange before making his way to the hostess. “Reservation for De Rolo, if you would.”

The hostess looked down at her list before smiling and asking Vex and Percy to follow her. Vex could help chuckling at the formal exchange in the relatively cheap restaurant. Percy looked over at her curiously.

“Sorry,” Vex admitted, “It’s just a bit weird to me. I’ve never made a reservation to a restaurant in my life.”

A look of pure astonishment came over his face. “ _Really?”_

Vex rolled her eyes. “Excuse me, White Privilege, some of us don’t go out that often.”

He had the grace to immediately look sheepish. “Sorry, that was rude of me.”

The hostess gestured them to their table and handed them menus before he continued. “It’s just something I do every time I go to a restaurant if I can help it, and sometimes I forget others may not do the same.”

He looked genuinely apologetic. Vex sighed internally. She was a sucker for puppy dog eyes and Percy had them in spades whenever he genuinely felt bad about something. He had the same expression when he thought he insulted her name at the cafe.

“It’s fine, Percival. It’s just something that I never felt was necessary.” Vex reassured him.

“Right…”

They lapsed into silence, and Vex looked down at her menu. It was the same fare that one could get from any Italian restaurant. She wondered how expensive she could be before it would be considered taking advantage. She _did_ actually like Percy. He was a pretentious shit, and she could tell from watching him at the cafe that he often thought of himself as the smartest person in the room. But he was intriguing and witty and pretty to look at. She’d get something in the middle of the price range. It was a fairly cheap restaurant after all. Maybe she would even offer to pay for her own meal, depending on how this date went.

“You… ahh…”

Vex looked up at Percy, who was drumming his fingers nervously against his untouched menu. He was looking at her with a strange intensity.

“You look very nice.” He finally managed to say.

A slow grin spread across Vex’s face. The nervousness and the red tinge spreading across the tips of his ears and his cheeks immediately put her at ease. This she could work with. Flirting and blushing and the awkward way some people trip over their words when confronted with someone they found attractive--that was her favored terrain.

“Why thank you, darling.” Vex’ahlia practically purred. “You look absolutely delectable yourself.”

She looked back down to her menu, though she didn’t bother to continue reading it. A satisfied smirk appeared on her lips as the red tinge in Percy’s face flared to a fully-blown flush in her peripheral vision.

From there, Vex and Percy settled into a somewhat comfortable rhythm with only a few awkward silences. She talked about her brother and Trinket. He talked about his work at the cafe and his dabblings in engineering. They both avoided talking about their past and families.

By the time they were done eating, Percy had relaxed (at least marginally). He still sat up straight and handled his utensils in an unbearably formal way, but Vex smiled a bit at the way he talked with his hands and wasn’t afraid to make his opinions known with heaps of dry sarcasm. He still got adorably pink whenever she flirted in a particularly pointed way. Vex herself was surprised at how comfortable she felt around him. She was always suspicious of people at first. Even Zahra had to endure the harsh testing before Vex let her in, though she had given as much right back. While she had spent weeks winking at Percy over the counter at the café, that was different from actually _talking_.

So, when she caught herself casually grasping his elbow on the way out of the restaurant, she was just as surprised as Percy looked at the development. Vex smiled coyly to cover the tumult of emotions that erupted while Percy slowly nodded and said nothing. The familiar sensation of suspicion and a lifetime of trust issues bubbled up against her efforts to push them back.

“Did you drive here?” Percy’s voice cut through the thoughts of Vex’s father and her childhood on the streets with nothing but herself and her brother.

“I took the bus.” Vex replied, doing her best to wipe the intrusive thoughts out of her mind.

Percy looked at her with an inscrutable expression, but merely said. “I can drive you back, if you’d like.”

“Oh, you’re _such_ a gentleman, Percival.” Vex teased, delighting in the pink it brought to his ears yet again.

He led them through the parking lot to his car. Knowing that Percy worked at a café, Vex wasn’t expecting a luxury car or anything, but he seemed like the kind of person that would have something nice and pristine-looking. Instead, to Vex’s delight, Percy brought them to an old Chevy truck with rust lines dripping down the sides and random scraps of metal and wood piled in the bed.

Percy nervously brushed past Vex to open the passenger door and toss the scattered tools that were in the passenger’s seat into a box beneath it. “Sorry about the mess. I should have thought to clean it up beforehand.”

Vex patted his shoulder and pressed past him to hop into the seat. He looked a little dumbfounded at the contact. “Don’t apologize, darling.” She said as she arranged herself in the seat. “If anything, I’m glad to know you’re not as perfect and orderly as you like to pretend to be.”

He gave her that same inscrutable look again before moving around to the driver’s side and pulling out of the restaurant, heading toward the café at Vex’s order. Soft bluesy music filled the car as Percy started the engine.

“There aren’t many trucks like this in the city. Where’d you get it?” Vex asked.

“I’ve, ah, had it for a while.” Percy replied without taking his focus from the road ahead of him. “Before I moved to the city, actually. I didn’t have much money, but I needed a car, and this truck had a sign saying it was free to whoever could get it running.”

“And you fixed it up yourself?”

“It wasn’t much of a fix at first. It took a lot of trips to the junkyard and a lot of jerry-rigging to get it running on my budget, but I’ve got it running much better now.”

Vex chuckled. “How modest.”

“Not at all. I’m absolutely brilliant.” A small smile spread across Percy’s face.

Once they got near the café, Vex directed him to her apartment building. There was a moment of silence after Percy parked; both of them waiting for the other to move or say something. Vex looked over at Percy to see him staring at her with that same look she’d seen before. She suddenly felt much more vulnerable than she was comfortable with.

“Listen, Percival. Percy.” She started, looking him in the eyes the way she only did when she wanted to ensure the person she was talking to knew she was being completely sincere. “I’ve never done this… dating thing before. To be honest, I never really saw the point before and it kind of confuses me. But I enjoyed tonight… and I like you.”

There was a pause. Percy looked as if he was struggling to think of what to say. “I guess what I’m trying to get at is…” Vex continued, taking a deep breath. “How do you want to do this?”

Percy’s jaw worked as if he were chewing on his thoughts. “To… to be perfectly honest, I haven’t really done this before either.” He smiled at her. “But I suppose your number would be a good start.”

**Author's Note:**

> and then they banged. The end. (mostly joking)
> 
> Random facts about this story:  
> -The reservation interaction at the beginning is word for word a conversation I had with my roommate once (her being the White Privilege person).  
> -For some reason I cannot see Percy driving anything other than a rusty old pickup despite how pretentious he is. In all modern AUs Percy drives a shitty pickup. Sorry, I don't make the rules.  
> -I was thinking of writing a piece about how Vax/Keyleth/Gilmore got together next, but now I really want to write about the camping trip.  
> -Taliesin's Percy playlist is playing in the car because of course it is.
> 
> Once again, thanks for looking at this terrible mess.


End file.
